Line drive and feed for stokers



June 16, 1942. H. H. FITCH LINE DRIVE AND FEED FOR sToxERs 2 Sheets-Sheet l Filed May 21, 1938 JM oRNEY5,

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Patented June 16, 1942 LINE DRIVE AND FEED FOR STOKERS Hurshel H. Fitch, Auburn, Ind., assigner to Auburn Foundry, Inc., Auburn, Ind., a corporation Application May 21, 1938, Seriall No. 209,278

3 Claims.

This invention relates to Aa direct feeding device for supplying solid fuel from a bin to a furnace, boiler or the like.

This application discloses improvements upon the basic invention disclosed and claimed in the copending allowed application, Serial No. 90,090, filed July l1, 1936, and entitled, Line drive and feed for stoker, which application was allowed November 26, 1937, and is now Patent No. 2,208,- '75l dated July 23, 1940, and such matter therein as was claimed and divided therefrom upon ocial requirement.

The chief object of the invention is to improve the construction, operation and assembly or fabrication of a device of the character illustrated and described in the copending application.

One feature of the invention is in the bin plate structure, whereby the fuel supply tube may be adjustably supported, the fuel in the bin may be rendered accessible for pulling down purposes or both may be accomplished.

Another object of the invention is to provide an improved fuel supply arrangement within the bin structure, associating the same with a floating type bearing for the fuel supplying screw or both may be employed.

Another feature of the invention consists in a combination outboard bearing provided for the air conduit and the worm enclosing conduit and which bearing furthermore is adapted to support one end of a clean-out tube and a clean-out closure for that tube.

Another feature of the invention consists in the interconnected thrust absorbing and power applying structure and the detachable association between the parts thereof.

Other objects and features will be pointed out more fully in the following description.

The full nature of the invention will be understood from the accompanying drawings and the following description and claims:

In the drawings Fig. 1 is a top plan view of one embodiment of the invention from the retort to the air and power supplying end.

Fig. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view through the retort and the power supplying and thrust bearing mechanism associated therewith.

Fig. 3 is a similar view through the fuel supply portion, the retort and the bin including the bin plate structure.

Figs. 2 and 3 are longitudinal sections taken in the same plane and one is a continuation of the other.

Fig. 4 is a front View of a portion of the bin plate structure.

Fig. 5 is a transverse sectional view taken on line 5-5 of Fig. l and in the direction oi the arrows.

Reference first will be had to Figs. 1 and 2. In said figures there is illustrated a main casting I having a curved channel II extending therethrough terminating in projecting collar portions I2 of tubular character. It also includes a central throat I3. A casting I4 superimposed thereabove includes the annular chamber I formed by the throat portion I6. Superposed thereabove is the tuyre construction I'I having the fuel receiving portion or hopper I8 and the air supplying openings I9, which communicate with the chamber 20 within the tuyre structure, in turn communicating as at 2I with the chamber I5 which in turn communicates as at 22 ,with the chamber 23. Chamber 23 is provided with two outlets in spaced relation. One outlet is provided with an air supply tube 24. Another outlet is provided with an inclined clean-out tube 25, the inclination permitting riddlings cleaning.

In spaced relation to the base portion I0, is the outboard bearing casting 28 connected thereto by any suitable means such as the portion 9. The outboard bearing casting 28 has an opening therethrough which at one end receives the downwardly inclined air supplying tube 24 and at the opposite side receives the air supply tube 30 which communicate through the casting opening. The air supply tube 30 is connected at the opposite end to a fan or blower structure 3I suitably associated with the power mechanism-see Fig. 1.

The opposite side of the outboard bearing 28 includes an opening, not shown, similar to the opening 29 and the same is adapted to receive and support the other end of the clean-out tube 25. The cleanout opening in the outboard bearing is closed by a closure member 32 which is retained in closed position by means of the thumb screw 33 bearing thereon, which thumb screw is threadedly supported as at 34 by an arm 35 having a curved hook portion 35, the free end 3l of which is adapted to engage a lug 38 on the side of the casting 28. The other end of the arm 35 has a relatively detachable hinge type association with a tubular extension 39 formed in a collar portion 40. Collar portion 40 rigidly supports the tube 4I that has one end seated in the enlarged bore 42 in the collar I2.

Mounted within the tube 4I is the screw 43, which herein is shown-see Fig. 2-as terminating in a socketed end 44 provided with aligned Y apertures 45 that are countersunk as at 46 and which aligned apertures mount the pin 41. Pin 41 extends through the aligned apertures 48 in the adjacent end of a tube 49 nested in the recess 50 of the socketed end 44 of the worm 43.

In Figs. l and 2 there is illustrated a gear case I which encloses a gear reduction device driven by suitable motor means and the power arrangement includes a stub shaft 52 projecting therefrom and into the housing member 53 detachably secured to the gear casing by means of bolts not shown. The end of this shaft mounts a pin 54 that projects laterally from the shaft.

Housing 53 at its opposite end includes a bore 51 mounting a bushing 58 that rotatably supports a second shaft 59 that projects from the housing 53. The housing enclosed end of said shaft 59 is of socket type, as indicated at 60, and the socket is slotted as at 6I to receive the pin 54. The housing 53 has an abutment 62 and between said abutment and the socket portion 68 is interposed an anti-friction structure 63. The housing structure 53 is suitably connected to the arm 64 which is a part of the motor base. A sleeve 66 is suitably secured to the flange 55 of the housing 53 by means of bolts, not shown. A set screw 68, supported by and extending through the sleeve 66 engages the sleeve enclosed end of the tube 4| and serves as a stop therefor. 'Ihe projecting end of the shaft 59 is telescopically received by the right hand end of the driving tube or driven member 49.

The projecting end of the shaft 59 is apertured as at 69 Ito receive a bolt 10 mounted in the aligned apertures 1|'of the tube 49. The bolt is suitably secured in that position, thus detachably connecting the shaft and tube together and by means of a nut 12. The resulting construction, therefore, is of detachable type and is also of the thrust bearing type. This permits the screw and/or the tube 4| to be detached and removed without disassociating all of the mechanism.

Reference will now be had to Figs. 3 and 4. In Fig. 3 there is illustrated` a tube 13, the salne being axially aligned with the tube 4| and the right hand end of the tube 13 is received by the enlarged bore lportion 14 of the retort structure I0. A coupling sleeve suitably associates the adjacent ends of the tubes 13 and 16. The tube 16 extends through an opening in the bin, said opening being closed by a bin plate structure 11. The latter has an opening 18 suitably closed by a closure plate 19 detachably secured as at 88 to the plate. The plate has an opening 8|. A collar type bearing 82 is suitably secured as at 83 to the plate. It has a partially spherical surface 84.

Supporting the tube 16 in the opening 8| is a pair of complementary tube enveloping members 85 having an interlocking connection as at 86- see Fig. S-and having tube bearing portions 81--see Fig. 4. Pivot screws 88 are threadedly mounted as at 89 in the enveloping portion 82 and engage in the aligned recesses 90 in the partially spherical exterior surface of the enveloping structure 85. Thus, the tube may be axially aligned without regard to the direction of the bin wall 9| having the opening 92 therein closed by the bin plate 11. 'Ihe tube 16 is extended within the bin and Iadjacent the opening 8| of the plate is suitably relieved as at 93, thus exposing the screw 43 which extends from a point to the right of the retort entirely through the retort and terminates in a free end 94. The flights on the worm preferably are of equal diameter. The shaft of the worm within the bin preferably is tapered as at 95, so that the worm increasingly draws more fuel as it approaches the bin wall adjacent the retort.

Within the bin and suitably secured, for example, to the bottom thereof, as at 96, is a bearing structure 91 that has the bearing portion 98 that supports the free but relieved end of the tube 19. Thus, the worm is exposed to the fuel which is drawn by it through the tubes 16 and 13 and is discharged upwardly through the neck I3,

Vthroat I6 into the hopper I8 for combustion purposes. The initial operation of the device lls the portion of the tube 4|, and thereafter the fuel has only one outlet or possibility of escape and that is through the retort upwardly directed discharge.

While the invention has been illustrated and described in great detail in the drawings and foregoing description, the same is to be considered as illustrative and not restrictive in character.

The several modifications described herein as well as others which will readily suggest themselves to persons skilled in this art, al1 are considered to be within the broad scope of the invention, reference being had to the appended claims.

The invention claimed is:

1. In a Stoker structure, the combination with a retort device, an elongated tube supported at one end thereby and projecting therefrom, a.

worm therein, and an elongated air supply tube similarly supported by and projecting from the device, of a singular outboard bearing type support having one end carried by the device and having means remote from the device connecting to both tubes for supporting and maintaining same in spaced relation to each other remote from the device.

2. A structure as defined by claim 1, characterized by the addition of a clean-out tube connected at one end to the retort device and supported at the opposite end by the outboard support, a closure means for the clean-out means at said outboard end, and means detachably securing the closure means to the support.

3. A structure as defined by claim 1, characterized by the addition of a clean-out tube supported at opposite ends by the device and said remote means, and closure means normally closing the remote means supported end of of the clean-out tube and movable to permit device cleaning through the clean-out tube, said remote means including a plate-like member with three tube receivable openings therethrough, the openings being in a common plane, the middle opening seating the worm tube.

HURSHEL H. FITCH. 

